Is the primary impediment to a downtown theater the parking requirements, or would our vast number of existing decks suffice?
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I would think the size of a theater would be an impediment as well. Seems like a lot of SQFT
Iām probably one of the last people here to have tried it, but Iām super impressed with Alamo Drafthouse. With a little creativity, couldnāt we figure out how to use a parking deck that is primarily used M-F until 5 for movie parking?
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I wish they wouldāve gone downtown, even on the periphery. Their location now is pretty out of the way for me.
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Me too. But a lot better than North Raleigh.
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Karla and I have their season pass and Iām embarrassed to say weāve driven every time weāve gone. Iād like to Bird/Bus/Lime some time.
Love the theater though!
I literally got selected to the Alamo Season Pass today and already signed up. Just in time for me to be gone for 2 monthsā¦oh well!
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Take a look at this multistory, 18 screen , stadium seating Regal Cinema that sits atop street level retail.
http://cinematreasures.org/theaters/16781
Thereās a gazillion of photos of how itās done in an urban setting online that donāt involve a sea of parking lot and a giant single story building on acreage.
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Yes Iām not for a second questioning if it can be done. Iām questioning how much it would cost and would it be a viable business. That is a massive movie theater in a much bigger downtown than Raleigh. How much per sqft is downtown Raleigh space going for and how much space does a theater need? The Alamo needed essentially a grocery store I just wonder how something like that works from a business standpoint in downtown Raleigh.
Carolina Theater seems to work in Durham. Flexible enough for live performances too.
They dropped one into downtown Orlando and it seems to do quite well. Itās on the second floor above retail in two office towers that are complemented by a taller residential tower on the same block. The use of parking is very complementary as typically people going to work and people going to movies are on different schedules.
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That theater is in South Beach, a small footprint, highly urban district, in the physically tiny barrier island city of Miami Beach. Itās not larger than Raleigh; itās just way more urban and a really good model for DT Raleigh to learn from when it comes to figuring out how to put lots of big things in a small footprint and keep it walkable, intimate and engaging.
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Cool idea, but with the humidity that we have here, I think a movie theater would have to be enclosed and air conditioned to keep folks coming during the summer months.
Funny that you should mention humidity in reference to an outdoor movie experience; South Beach has that too as a giant soundscape projection on the side of their New World Symphony building. Not only do they project the symphony outside for free, they show weekly movies at night for a good chunk of the year. Iām telling you, thereās a lot to mimic from Miami Beach that would work in Raleigh.
https://www.nws.edu/events-tickets/wallcast-concerts-and-park-events/
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Yep, little-known fact thanks to the entertainment industry trying to convince us otherwise: Miami ā Miami Beach. Theyāre two different cities.
I went to the South Beach cinemaplex not long after it opened. Itās really nice and complements the area well. Itās right on the corner of one of South Beachās main thoroughfares (Alton Rd) and Lincoln Road pedestrian mall, which is highly successful. I think something like this could do well in Raleigh.
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Thanks for the validation Deb. I appreciate it.
Itās at times like this discussion that I wish Mapfrappe was still operational. Maybe Iāll have to do it the old fashion way by screen shot and PPT? The scale of South Beach as an entity is relatable to DT Raleigh and packs individual lessons to be learned into its boundaries. Oh, and it too isnāt served by rail transit, only buses and a free circulator trolley bus system akin to our RLine.
Look for my homemade mapfrappe soon!
Thanks again!
Just to clarify I meant bigger as in population-wise not physical size. I just donāt see how a multiplex can be viable economically in a city like Raleigh. There arenāt enough people living downtown and I donāt know why people would come into downtown to utilize it when there are so many other options outside of downtown. Maybe itās something weāll grow into eventually but I imagine if it were a economically viable Alamo would have tried to locate closer to the city core.
Maybe Phase Two of the convention center expansion could be convention center by day and multiplex by night. 
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Raleigh-South Beach.pdf (34.0 KB)
This is South Beach compared to DT Raleigh. While South Beach doesnāt host the state government, it does host the city government and a tourism industry that takes up a huge chunk of land primarily along its eastern side with thousands of hotel rooms, restaurants, bars and clubs. Itās been said that on a daily basis there are 250,000 people in Miami Beachās 7 square miles, with most of them in South Beach. Nonetheless, South Beach finds room for 40,000 residents + seasonal residents, and an enormous list of urban amenities and places to shop including:
- a convention center thatās 2.5 times the size of Raleighās that annually hosts the nationās most important art festival (ArtBasel Miami Beach).
- 3 performing arts venues: New World Center, Jackie Gleason Theater, Colony Theater
- 18 screen cineplex + an art house theater that host many special screenings and several film festivals annually.
- Macyās and big box retailers like Best Buy, TJ Maxx, Marshallās, Ross (x2), Zara (x2), H&M (x2), Forever 21, Michaelās, Total Wine, Office Depot, Target (opening this Fall)
- International retailers like Nike, Gap, Apple, Urban Outfitters (x2), all in large store format, in addition to hundreds of other retailers and restaurants.
- The Wolfsonian and Bass Art Museums
- Flamingo Park with baseball fields, a public pool, and lots of fields, South Point Park with a water experience like whatās going into Moore Square, and Lummus Park which fronts the Art Deco district.
- dozens and dozens of blocks of low rise, high density multifamily housing with many towers of condos and apartments primarily along the perimeter.
- 3 Publix, a Fresh Market & Trader Joeās (opening this Summer) + dozens of local bodega grocers scattered among the city blocks. There are also at least a dozen full sized Walgreenās and CVSās that I can think of.
- Bike share like you canāt even believe with more than a thousand bikes in south beach alone and dozens and dozens of stations. Citi Bike Miami - Station Map
Now, Iām not saying that Raleigh needs to have all of this stuff downtown, I am just painting a picture that A LOT is possible in our DT footprint. We shortchange our possibilities too often. Oh, and Miami Beach does not have transit rail. It has a bus system and a free circulator trolley bus thatās like the RLine.
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